I couldn't see it really well but I could smell the sharp iron scent in the air and roughly make up the direction. After one or two minutes I caught up to the man who sluggishly carried himself.
"Hey there! Your not gonna get anywhere Axe guy!"
I jumped at him and placed my knee in the center of his Back. Another, weaker cry of pain left his lips and he collapsed. I checked the Wounds I had inflicted on him. His frontside was nearly completely healed and the open wound where his arm was missing was mostly closed too, the arm was still missing though.
He must have used a healing potion or something like that. Regardless of that I grapped both his legs and dragged him back to Irena.
Irena was sitting next to the man tied up with the root's. She seemed to be searching something in his clothes.
"Got him"
And threw the bulky man, who had lost conscious during my trip back, next to the sword men.
Irena stood back up and sighed in exasperation. "Val. Please be a bit more careful. Don't just rush in. It might have worked this time but it might kill you in the future. I was so worried about you" and she came over to me and tightly embraced me. Wasn't sure if it was appropriate. And sword guy made his annoyance clear.
"Oh man... how could we have lost to that" but he misjudged Irena who just kicked him in his belly as she hugged me.
"Let's wrap this up for now. But I will say I have some questions for you later, Valie"
"Mhhmmm..."
I could imagine what kind of questions would be coming and twitched a little. But it should be fine, I didn't fully shapeshifted into my draconic form in the end. And I've learned something new, it was good to know that these 'canceled' shifts are good for momentary protection. Didn't knew that before.
"Good"
She turned back around to the man with the longsword.
"So, were where we? Ah your name. Answer"
And she kicked him in the belly again.
"UHH... it's Kudo! It's kudo... stop hitting me you mad women"
It seemed he hadn't learned his lesson and took another kick.
"Just answer the questions. AND ONLY THE QUESTION!"
He remained silent.
"Got that you asshole?"
"...yes..."
"Good, 'Kudo'. You wanted to capture us and sell us off as slaves, right?"
"...yes..."
"There are more of you out there, how many?"
"Fifty"
Irena raised an Eyebrow.
"Fifty you say? And how many people do you hold captive there?"
"Don't know. Maybe 100"
"Where?"
His face looked stoic and he answered only after another kick of Irena"
"Argh...N-north East from here. Where Bruce run off to"
"Good. How long do you plan to stay here?"
"One day"
Irenas face twitched.
"When do you leave?"
"Don't know. Tomorrow"
She looked suspiciously at him.
"Who hired you?"
Now there was clear panic on his face.
"I can't answer that... no matter what you do to me" He sounded sincere to me.
"We'll see about that. Okay, why are you leaving tomorrow?"
He smirked.
"Because hell will break lose soon"
There was clear surprise and confusion in Irenas expression.
"What do you mean?"
"You'll see soon enough. No-no don't hit me! I don't know more than that! We were just told that we have to leave because of 'that'. Don't know what 'that' is though"
Irena shaked her head as if to regain focus.
"Ok. Are you a mercenary?"
"Yes"
"Are there any other people as strong as you or your companions there?"
"Yes"
"How many"
"About 20"
"Is there a young Bunnymen girl among the captives?"
"Ahh yes she, was a real nice catch"
Irena gave him a disgusted look.
"Thanks for the info. [Soothing Bloom]" Irena chanted another spell and from her fingertips a glowing white powder slowly made its way into the noses of the two captives.
"W-what is that. Wha-..."
He fell asleep mid sentence.
And the Axe guy... Well he kept on 'sleeping'. He was still alive though. But had for some reason bumps all over his head.
"Good it worked. They should be out cold for at least an hour. Let's take them to the guards. We have to act fast"
I nodded. We didn't had much time to free the captives and beat up the bad guys.
I carried the big guy 'Bruce' and Irena Kudo. I burned the thief guy to Ashes after a short debate with Irena. It was safer to get rid of the corpse and evidence, but we hadn't had the time to do anything else. We took his two daggers though. I stored them and the longsword in my bag. We also found a Tier 2 Healing potion, at least Irena said that it was one.
We travelled back to the northern gate of the city.
"So mind telling me what happend this fight? First you received a deep cut on the back and only moments later your wound healed? Did you use one of your 'Flasks'?"
"No. It's just something I can do. Ferous said it was because of a rare title I have, called 'Priestess of the Silver Fountain'"
"So it's a unique skill then?"
"Yes"
"Okay fine. Makes sense. But what was that with the strike from the Blade of this Asshole? I mean it should have impaled you and it didn't even leave a scratch"
"Ehh... Well, I can... temporarily grow scales on parts of my body..."
I couldn't look Irena directly in her eyes. I mean it wasn't technically a lie. I could do that... but it wasn't the whole truth... maybe I should tell her sooner rather than later. Still I definitely shouldn't take such a decision lightly. I should think about this carefully!
Irena looked at me with clear suspicion.
"Aha... Valie if you don't want to answer just say so. Lying is bad"
"It wasn't a lie"
I tried to be adamant and poutet my cheeks.
But Irena seemed not bothered by my expression...
"OH! Your so cute! It's fine... whatever it is someday you'll tell me, right? It would be okay to share your little secrets now too of course~"
The rest of the way Irena tried multiple times to get answers out of me. And she nearly got me to the point where I wanted to just scream at her "I AM DRAGON! HAPPY NOW?!" But that wouldn't silence her either, I imagined. Thus I just tried to be as evasive as possible.
We arrived in front of the city, the gates where closed. Weird did they usually closed the gates at night? Made sense to me, I mean why build all these fancy walls if you just leave a hole in them all the time. At humans and most other species had a hard time spotting monsters at night, so that had to be it.
"Shite. Since when do they close the gates at night?"
"To keep the monsters outside?"
But before Irena could answer me a Lone guard appeared ontop of the closed gate. Or rather the stone wall encapsulating it.
"Hey there! Irena is that you?"
"Yes! Why are the gates closed?"
"Emergency order from the Count, when the sun is going down the gates are closed!"
"Can you let me in?"
"That's why I am here! Brandon asked me to be on the lookout for you on nightwatch! I'm right at it, give me am moment please!"
With that he vanished from the wall.
"Well, seems like Brandon deserves some praise for once" Irena mumbled.
We described the situation about the two men we had with us to the guard. Irena also asked for a night raid on the slavers camp immediately. But due to the situation, the Counts orders to focus on securing the city and the mysterious threat mentioned by Kudo, they were unwilling to help us.
The guard also told us that we would find Brandon and the Others in a Inn called 'The Wailing Tree'.
Irena knew that 'Inn' thingy. Thus we headed straight over to it.
I was wondering what we should be doing now. We couldn't just let them leave tomorrow with all these poor people. I had- We had to do something. But those guys were pretty strong. So I would have a hard time beating even more of these meanies, even with Irena by my side...
There was always this sting in my head that I could just take them on as a Dragon. It would be an easy task. But should I do it? It would be really risky if word got out. Even as a half-dragon many seemed to be after my life, at least that's what all the people are saying. Maybe I should talk things over with Irena? But... just telling her after all what master had said to me seemed kind of wrong.
I clenched my head with my hands in frustration, uncertain what to do.
"We will figure something out Val! Don't worry about it!"
Irena tried to cheer me up and patted my head, but I just saw no answers to my dilemma.
I pondered about this all the way to the Tavern. It was near the guild along a broad road with many Inns and Taverns (Irena told me what those were).
The building looked sturdy and was made mostly out of dark wood. Loud chatter and laughter could be heard through the windows.
Next to the entrance a wooden shield depicted an old tree and the words 'The Wailing Tree' were engraved beneath.
Irena opened the door, grapped my hand and we both moved inside.
In short, it was crammed with people. Most of them looked like Adventures, some even had their guildcards hanging from their necks. It was a very diverse group, many different types of people hanging around.
I was stunned by the number of people in such a small space. And just let myself get pulled through by Irena, who seemed to know where to go.
A few moments later we arrived at a corner, which was separated from the rest of the room by thin wooden walls which didn't quite reached the roof. A red carpet was used as a door and Irena pushed it aside and went through without hesitation.
I followed her and saw the inside of the small room. It was coverd in carpets and had a comfortable atmosphere. In the middle stood a round table with 6 chairs. On the table were three Mugs, wooden plates and bowls.
And of course Liz, Brandon and Knut were sitting there.
"You guys look pretty rough" Liz said.
Irena looked mostly fine, her typical green leather 'armor' had a few cuts, but as I looked down my own cloth... they were singed and a deep cut on the chest made them look completely broken. I think I need more practical clothes.
"Are you okay?" Brandon asked.
And then Irena quickly told them what happend in the past 4 hours or so.
After Irena finished her story, an out of place silence took over the separated room and only the cheerful chatter from the main room could be heard. I was curious about what clever plan they would come up with.
"What are we waiting for? Let's get going and beat those guys up!" Knut stood up and took his giant (even for a normal sized person) up and had a murderous look on his face.
"No, we have to be stealthy. Ambush them while their guard is down and take them down while they sleep" Liz also left her seat with a cold expression, which made a shiver run down my spine.
Brandon however kept on sitting, his hand scratching his chin.
"That wouldn't work. They must have noticed already that the guys you defeated are missing. They will be on their guard. And if the information of that 'Kudo' are true, then there are to many of them to take them head on"
"Brandon is right, we have to find another solution"
After Irena said that I had an Idea...
"Can't we just ask all these people here for help? Aren't they all adventures?"
A moment of silence.
"That would be unwise. First of all, not all adventures are good natured people and will offer their help for free. And unless you have the means to pay them, they won't move a finger. Also it is not unimaginable that some of them are cooperating with these kidnappers and I would rather have fewer blades at our side than a dagger in the back. Adventures are trustworthy only when they are gaining something from whatever they are doing"
Irena quickly took the wind of my sails. She would know better than me. Of course she would. But I thought that all of the adventures were like Brandon and the Others. But if that wasn't an option either I had no idea what to do next.